Browns Fade in Second Half to Lose in Cincinnati

The Cleveland Browns carried a ten point lead into halftime, but couldn’t make it stand up.  The Bengals capitalized on some big plays to tie it at 20 before taking the lead for good with under a minute to go in the game, 23-20.  It was a crushing defeat for the Browns, but they have nobody to blame but themselves, as a team, in all phases of the game.

Most notably, the Browns again had a miscue in the field goal game.  Granted, Phil Dawson’s 55-yard go-ahead attempt was not a gimme.  No matter, as Ryan Ponbriand rolled the snap back to punter Brad Maynard who did well to even allow Phil Dawson to take a swipe at the ball which flew wide left and maybe even short.

The Browns had miscues on defense that led to big plays by A.J. Green, Cedric Benson and Jermaine Gresham.  Reserve safety, and 7th round rookie, Eric Hagg was victimized worst in a mismatch with the talented and much larger Gresham.  Joe Haden found it lonely being on an island with A.J. Green at times.  Usama Young was one of a few Browns who was noticeably beaten by Cedric Benson.  The Browns will also be kicking themselves for dropping interceptions.  Chris Gocong dropped a sure one. 

The defense didn’t play horribly the whole game.  In the end, I’ll say it was a mediocre and very uneven game for them.  They did get two pretty big stops in the fourth quarter to give the Browns a chance to score the go-ahead touchdown.   The Browns offense just didn’t get the job done for them.

Speaking of that offense, they showed a lot of the same ability and rhythm that seemed encouraging the last few weeks, but it was peppered with costly mistakes.  Colt McCoy threw a brutal interception as he was being hit.  It was the first play of the fourth quarter and the Browns were nearly in the red zone leading 20-17.  Instead of building on a miniscule lead, McCoy uncharacteristically gave it away.  Greg Little caught his first career touchdown pass, but he had at least three legitimate drops and a couple others that hit his hands and could have been caught in all likelihood.

On the positive side, Peyton Hillis’ return was a welcome one.  He didn’t blow up the box score with yardage, but he sure contributed to the Browns’ nine first downs on the ground.  Also on the positive side, the Browns scored a touchdown in the first quarter to quiet the incessant and largely meaningless droning about that stat.  They still haven’t won a coin toss, so we will be subjected to that one.  Also, Jordan Norwood had a very nice first quarter with two big catches and a touchdown before largely disappearing for the rest of the game.

There’s no way to sugar-coat this one though.  It was a disappointing loss in another very winnable game this season against the Bengals.  The Browns looked like a legitimate football team and I told myself that would be good enough before the game started.  Right now though, it isn’t doing much for me.  Maybe I’ll be able to find some more positives to build on by tomorrow or Tuesday.

(Photo – Official Cleveland Browns on Facebook)